It's been a fairly hectic week for me.  My aunt from Hong Kong has just today returned home and I can finally drop the devout Christian act.  You see, my father is supposed to be a practicing Christian but I don't think he really gives a shit about religion.  My aunt has been lead to believe that my brother and I are also practicing Christians and I'm sure you all know I couldn't possibly be further from religion than I already am (well OK, maybe I could).  I've been pretending to pray at meal times as well as pretending to read the bible in the company of my aunt.  And the reward for my theatrics?  A crispy £50 note!

I'm not keen on sukiyaki.  For those not in the know, sukiyaki is pretty much a hotpot of broth and you add a variety of different vegetables and meats until done and then eat.  Quite frankly, I think it looks gross and tastes even worse.  Unfortunately, I had to put on another act in front of my family and pretend I liked it.  Eugh.  The next time you see this particular dish in anime, heed my warnings and move swiftly on!

Khang and I recently paid a shopping trip all over Birmingham's finest retail establishments in search of holiday gear.  I picked up a lovely red and pink hawaiian shirt from Topman for the bargainous price of £12.50.  I saw an equally funky blue hawaiian shirt over at Marks & Spencers which I have now since bought.  I didn't quite have enough funds to buy it the first time Khang and I saw it.  I've also picked up a lovely casual dinner jacket from Rackhams suit department which set me back £74 (reduced from £300!).  It's by Hackett of London and literally goes with almost anything in my wardrobe; jeans, khakis, chinos, you name it.

Less than 3 weeks to go until mine and Daniel's Vegas trip now.  I've decided to take £800 worth of dollars with me ($1380) which should cover all expenses I mount up.  I'm looking to pick up a new suit out there since my current one is actually a bit big for me.  Actually, it's just the jacket that's a bit big since I bought it when I used to be more of a heffer.  Also on my shopping list is an iPod Shuffle for Khang and myself, lots of US videogames, DVDs, and Oreos.  If anybody has anything they'd like me to bring back for them, you know where to find me.  I've also found out that as well as complimentary drinks whilst gambling, some of the better casinos also give out free packs of cigarettes!  Now, I've not smoked at all since January but I still get the cravings every now and again.  It's especially bad when I'm out drinking or when the weather's really nice and I'm sitting outside just chilling.  I guess this is the ultimate test for me, let's see how long I can last.

I've been playing about with my mum's Sony MiniDV camcorder, just trying to get a feel for it.  As expected, she's left all of the settings on default or automatic mode which just sucks ass.  I've since switched everything to meet the Nevada weather conditions which basically means sports mode, low exposure, and manual focus.  I've also been dabbling with Final Cut Pro and iMovie on my iBook with the camcorder hooked via FireWire.  It's actually really simple to work on the film and I wish I'd tried it out sooner.  I'm now in the process of editing all of our old family home videos and burning them to DVD.  I'm not looking forward to our Walt Disney World tape, over 6 hours of footage at the "happiest place on Earth"...